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NHL Chooses Fiery Opponent to Play the Penguins on Opening Night
The NHL has revealed that the next season will start with a tripleheader on October 7th, and the Penguins will kick things off by facing the New York Rangers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won't have to wait long to see their now former head coach, Mike Sullivan, again. The NHL announced Monday that the Penguins will open the 2025-26 season on Oct. 7 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The game, scheduled for a little after 8 p.m. ET, will be broadcast on ESPN. Mike Sullivan, who guided Pittsburgh to consecutive Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, split with the team on April 28 after almost a decade behind the bench.
He departs as the franchise's all-time winningest coach with a 409-255-89 record. Only days later, on May 2, Sullivan was hired by the Rangers.
The Penguins replaced Sullivan with Dan Muse, formerly an assistant coach with the Rangers, on June 4, following a lengthy search.
The Blackhawks, Panthers, Avalanche and Kings will also play opening night
Opening night is a tripleheader. The action starts at 5 p.m. ET when Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks visit the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, who will raise their second consecutive banner at Amerant Bank Arena.
This will be the third consecutive year that the Blackhawks and Connor Bedard will play on opening night. Chicago has been on the road all three times.
The night concludes with a Western Conference contest between the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET from Crypto.com Arena.
The NHL will release the full 2025-26 regular-season schedule on Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 14 | 80 ANSWERS NHL Chooses Fiery Opponent to Play the Penguins on Opening Night Are you excited for the start of next season? | ||
| Yes | 61 | 76.3 % |
| No | 19 | 23.8 % |
| List of polls | ||